Pelosi: No, we're not giving Trump a 'get out of jail card'
Five people died as a result of the Capitol insurrection, which was spurred on by Trump himself.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday rejected the Republican argument that proceeding with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial was contrary to President Joe Biden’s call for unity.
During a press conference, Pelosi was asked if she was worried that continuing with the impeachment process could alienate Biden’s Republican supporters.
“No,” she replied, noting that Trump “committed an act of incitement of insurrection.”
“I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, ‘oh let’s just forget it and move on,'” she added.
Trump was impeached in a bipartisan House vote earlier in January for inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 that killed five people. The next step in the process is a trial in the Senate, which is now under Democratic control.
Democrats would need a two-thirds majority vote to convict Trump, which they are unlikely to get.
“[Y]ou don’t say to a president, ‘do whatever you want in the last months of your administration, you’re going to get a get out of jail card free,'” Pelosi added on Thursday, noting that “people died here.”
From a Jan. 21 press conference:
REPORTER: You mentioned “unity,” a message of unity that [President Joe Biden] had yesterday.
NANCY PELOSI: Yeah.
REPORTER: Are you at all concerned about moving forward with an impeachment trial [that] could undercut that message and alienate Republican supporters of the president?
PELOSI: No. No, I’m not worried about that. The fact is, the president of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, “oh let’s just forget it and move on.” That’s not how you unify.
Joe Biden said it beautifully, if you want to unite you must remember. And we must, we must bring this in. And look, that’s our responsibility. To uphold the integrity of the Congress of the United States.
That’s our responsibility. To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. And that is what we will do.
And just because he’s now gone, thank God, that we — you don’t say to a president, “Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration, you’re going to get a get out of jail card free.” Because, because people think we should make nice-nice and forget that people died here on Jan. 6, that [they attempted] to undermine our election, to undermine our democracy, to dishonor our Constitution.
No, I don’t see that at all. I think that would be harmful to unity.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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